1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of lottery systems and more particularly to a lottery system which rewards a player's loyalty.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Generally speaking, the concept of promoting customer loyalty by issuing rewards or bonuses to particularly loyal customers is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,735 for example, provides a method of promoting customer loyalty by analyzing customer purchases at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal to determine if a customer has purchased products equaling or exceeding a predetermined value and, if this is the case, entitling the customer to participate in a bonus ticket game configured as a game of chance. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,914 teaches a system and method for administering an incentive award program wherein award points are earned in response to customer purchases of goods and services by credit card and then credited to the customer's credit account. The calculation of award points is based at least in part upon the charges to the customer credit card.
The concept of reserving a certain percentage of the revenue generated by the sale of tickets associated with a given lottery for a “loyalty reward pot” is also known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,486 teaches a gaming system which includes a master controller operatively connected to a plurality of gaming controllers, the master controller adding a predetermined percentage of the bet coins or tokens reported by each of the gaming controllers to a saved (or progressive) bonus value.
The concept of qualifying for a bonus award at a second level of game play only upon an event (such as winning) occurring at a first level of game play is also discussed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,486 teaches a gaming system in which to qualify for a bonus award (or second level), a player must first get a predetermined winning combination (at a first level). In this lottery scheme, all players have a chance to receive the progressive bonus upon getting a predetermined winning combination, regardless of the number of coins that player wagers initially. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,276 teaches a game with a first level of game play (and corresponding first win opportunity) and a second level of game play with a second win opportunity that provides further incentive to the player to play the game. Contingencies of the first level of game play need to be satisfied in order to enter and play the second level of game play.
Although the prior art systems work adequately, they do not describe a lottery system which rewards players on a pro-rated basis, dependent upon their ticket purchasing habits and the winning of a first lottery event.